The Birthday Girl @suefortin1 @HarperImpulse

About The Birthday Girl

Dear Carys, Zoe and Andrea

Come and join me for my fortieth birthday adventure weekend, full of mysteries and surprises
the like of which you can’t imagine.

When Joanne’s friends reluctantly accept an invitation to her birthday party, it quickly becomes clear that there is more to this weekend than they are expecting.

One of them is hiding a secret.

And Joanne is planning to reveal it…

A weekend away in a cottage in the woods sounds like fun – until no one can hear your cries for help.

Four friends.
A party to die for.
Who will survive?

My review of The Birthday Girl

The Birthday Girl is a fast paced thriller that resolves around Carys and her three friends. Joanne, Zoe, and Andrea. From the very beginning I was hooked and was very aware that these four women shared something much darker than merely friendship. This instantly piqued my interest as I wanted to know what bound these four women together. I was not disappointed.

The Birthday Girl has an ominous start and the tension gradually builds as the women leave the comfort of their own homes to go to an unknown destination, a cottage in some deep, dark woods.  It is soon evident that Joanne has organised the so called party to reveal secrets, and to gain revenge. The setting of the remote woods, away from civilisation, helps to create this feeling of foreboding and I read,  thinking to myself that nothing good was going to come from this weekend.

As the blurb suggests, many questions ae raised including who will survive? I wondered throughout what would happen to the women, and as I gradually learned more about their past and relationship with each other, the more insight I gained into each of these characters. All of them very different and with their onw unique take on what happened.The pivoting theme is that of trust. Who can Carys trust? Do we believe her version of events? What about her so called friends? It's a complex plot and nothing is as it really seems. I did have to suspend belief a few times, but I just went along with the very enjoyable plot.

The Birthday Girl is an enjoyable read. It explores female friendship in a refreshing new way. What was interesting was that although I didn't really bond with any of these women, nor really like them, they did interest me from a psychological point of view. All four are very different, and it was interesting to read how they interacted with each other.

The Birthday Girl is an enjoyable psychological thriller that had me constantly shifting my loyalties throughout the book. It's a clever read that explores the intimacies of female friendships and the extremes that we go to seek out the truth. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy.

The Birthday Girl is published by HarperImpulse on 30 November and can be found on Amazon here.